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By Bruce SchreinerAssociated Press • Tuesday January 29, 2013 7:11 AM

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Authorities seized a far-flung marketing operation yesterday because of
allegations that the Kentucky-based company amounted to a global pyramid scheme that siphoned
hundreds of millions of dollars from people who paid steep fees to become sales representatives but
made a pittance for selling products.

Federal and state agents converged on Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing’s headquarters in Lexington and
its warehouse in Danville after a federal judge in Chicago ordered the company to cease operations.
The judge appointed a receiver to oversee the company’s assets.

“We think today’s actions are the beginning of the end for one of the most prolific pyramid
schemes operating in North America,” said Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, who joined in a
federal lawsuit filed against Fortune.

Besides Kentucky, other plaintiffs are the states of Illinois and North Carolina and the Federal
Trade Commission.

The company said in a recorded phone message at its Lexington headquarters that it will
vigorously defend itself.

The company used testimonials to try to lure its sales force. Some Fortune representatives said
they earned more than 10 times as much as their previous incomes by their second year with the
marketing company, authorities said.

More than 90 percent of Fortune’s sales members quit after one year, Conway said.

To participate, representatives paid annual fees of $100 to $300, authorities said. To qualify
for commissions and recruiting bonuses, they paid an extra $130 to $400 a month and were billed
monthly for products.

In all, representatives invested about $1,500 a year, authorities said. The operation’s sales
network included more than 100,000 people, they said.

The lawsuit says that sales recruits were told they could earn high commissions by selling
products to people outside the operation. Instead, only minimal compensation was paid for sales to
nonparticipants, and few products were sold to anyone other than participants, it said.

Defendants in the case include businessman Paul C. Orberson, who launched Fortune Hi-Tech in
2001.

Orberson has been a big contributor to the athletic programs at the University of Kentucky and
Western Kentucky University.

The lawsuit alleges that Fortune misled its sales members into believing they would earn big
money for selling goods such as satellite-TV and cellphone services, as well as health and beauty
products.